You get a pet that fights for you, hits like a truck, has its own inventory, and you can teach it spells and used food to shapeshift it. The food you feed the pet comes from a fishing mini-game (among other things). But it is the simplest, most intuitive, most enjoyable fishing minigame ever designed for any MMO or RPG.

There is a level editor. It is the same set of tool used by the designers to craft the entire game. Let’s just say those $20 will undoubtedly get you a much longer shelf-life.

In 18 months time, the developers will release a free-to-play MMO version of Torchlight.

Se7en helpful hints for beginners

The game is too easy on ‘Normal’. Try ‘Hard’.

Your pet can pick up loot if you shift-click on it.

Your pet can also be sent back to town with an inventory full of stuff you want to sell automatically, so you can continue playing in the dungeons.

If you have an unidentified item, right-click an ‘Identify Scroll’ in your inventory, and left-click on the item.

Can’t use an item, but it looks like it might be good for an alt? The game comes with a shared vault system. Every one of your characters has access to it.

TnT barrels can be exploded from a distance, say if you are playing the Avenger class, to help expedite enemy deaths.

Shift+F9 takes screenshots. They are saved in the Torchlight install folder.